North America, United States, Wyoming—Wind River Range, Monolith, Northwest Face

Climbs And Expeditions

Climb Year:

Publication Year: 1967

Monolith, Northwest Face. After the ascent of the long chimney that splits the north face of the striking formation of Monolith, south of the Popo Agie River, the other logical technical climb to do was the magnificent buttress to its right, on the northwest face of the peak. I made this new climb on September 9, in nine hours, with Jerry Fuller. I have never seen better rock, anywhere, and because of this the climb was highly enjoyable, though quite difficult at times, with pitches including F8 and 9. Some 400 feet from the top, two consecutive crux pitches on the outer edge of the buttress would not have been possible but for the abundance of small horns or "chickenheads.” As it was, lack of cracks here made protection dubious. Iron used on the ascent was 37 pitons and one bolt. Exposure was among the most stimulating I have seen in the Wind River Range.

Fred Beckey

North America, United States, Wyoming—Wind River Range, Monolith, Northwest Face

Monolith, Northwest Face. After the ascent of the long chimney that splits the north face of the striking formation of Monolith, south of the Popo Agie River, the other logical technical climb to do was the magnificent buttress to its right, on the northwest face of the peak. I made this new climb on September 9, in nine hours, with Jerry Fuller. I have never seen better rock, anywhere, and because of this the climb was highly enjoyable, though quite difficult at times, with pitches including F8 and 9. Some 400 feet from the top, two consecutive crux pitches on the outer edge of the buttress would not have been possible but for the abundance of small horns or "chickenheads.” As it was, lack of cracks here made protection dubious. Iron used on the ascent was 37 pitons and one bolt. Exposure was among the most stimulating I have seen in the Wind River Range.

Fred Beckey

This AAJ article has been reformatted into HTML. Please contact us if you spot an error.